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Now that all the episodes about middle school is over, I think I know where it went wrong for me. They let us, the audience, knew about the heart transplant before Kakeru did. Normally this isn't a problem, but considering the reveal isn't in sync with the protagonist and the audience, plus the fact that there was a week break in between... well, let's just say I was detached with Kakeru's feelings to the point I wanted to slap him silly last episode. It just wasn't as powerful as I expected to feel, which is sad because if done differently they could've stirred 'big time' emotions.

Yeah, they messed up the execution (whether it be the anime's fault or the source manga I don't really care), but still I watch. Nana is just too much a pleasure every week and quite frankly, I'm more interested in her getting to play soccer than the current FC vs SC match up. Which is odd, because I always rather liked Adachi's staple regular team vs the underdogs in virtually every one of his mangas.

Kakeru and Seven's time in middle school is over, and now they're first years in High School. We met some interesting new characters which will hopefully be fleshed out soon.

Nice to see Kouta again. He's an interesting comic relief character who can be a bro to Kakeru. I guess he still hasn't learned that Seven is just not into him. At least Araki appreciates the comedy of those two though.

Iwaki-sensei is the most interesting of the new characters they introduced. He has an interesting way of thinking, with him telling Kakeru that most people Kakeru's age dream of playing in the World Cup, and that the SC thinks too small. His beach soccer practices are also a sight to see. Something tells me Kakeru is gonna really improve with the way Iwaki-sensei has the team practice.

Araki being as out of shape as he is, but still having some skills is interesting. Seems he has some things in common with Kakeru too in that both of them secretly practice with a soccer ball, and that they misunderstood Suguru(and vice versa)

The FC as the passionate "play-for-fun" club has a foil in the physically strong and imposing but utterly unimaginative SC. The FC is gonna be in a pretty intense match in the next episode, and I predict that somehow Araki rejoins the FC.

In some ways this reminds me of Eyeshield 21 where a passionate bunch of underdogs band together, and find a way to improve themselves on and off the field. I would also like to see Seven playing more soccer at some point. I am definitely looking forward to the SC vs FC match in the next episode. Episode gets a very solid 8.5 out of 10 from me.

Did Kakeru grow taller? I always thought he was shorter then Seven. What number is Kakeru going to wear in high school now? He used to wear 15 when he was little, he also wore 15 in the practice match in episode 2. His brother wears 10 so wouldn't it be cool if he wore his brother's number.

So we just had a little time skip and are getting another one. Why did the FC have to wait 3 years to play the SC?

I don't think they have to wait 3 years to play the SC, they fight to represent the school every year. Araki said he doesn't want to play 3 years of beach soccer, meaning he doesn't want to lose all 3 years because he couldn't break SC's defense. Kakeru said "if you can't find one make one", that is what going to convince Araki to join back in my opinion. Kakeru's brother said something about a better pass which involves 2 players.

Did Kakeru grow taller? I always thought he was shorter then Seven. What number is Kakeru going to wear in high school now? He used to wear 15 when he was little, he also wore 15 in the practice match in episode 2. His brother wears 10 so wouldn't it be cool if he wore his brother's number.

He's got that same weird disease Yugi from Yugioh does.

But this show's initial plot screams Touch and Cross Game to me. I swear to God that all the sports anime I like for some reason have someone important die at the beginning. Which is not why I like them, by the way. Suguru's death came as a complete surprise to me. I could have sworn that Kakeru's foreshadowing meant that they were going to be rivals (such as Suguru transfers and becomes his "enemy" or something along those lines), not that he would die. I know in hindsight it should not have been a surprise, but I didn't think they'd be so cliche as to have the same turning point as Touch and Cross Game in them. At least Touch and Cross Game had the excuse of being written by the same author, but unfortunately Area no Kishi doesn't.

Those little criticisms off my chest, I love this series to death already. It really seems like a great hybrid of Cross Game's drama/romance and Giant Killing's attention to detail.

But this show's initial plot screams Touch and Cross Game to me. I swear to God that all the sports anime I like for some reason have someone important die at the beginning. Which is not why I like them, by the way. Suguru's death came as a complete surprise to me. I could have sworn that Kakeru's foreshadowing meant that they were going to be rivals (such as Suguru transfers and becomes his "enemy" or something along those lines), not that he would die. I know in hindsight it should not have been a surprise, but I didn't think they'd be so cliche as to have the same turning point as Touch and Cross Game in them. At least Touch and Cross Game had the excuse of being written by the same author, but unfortunately Area no Kishi doesn't.

Those little criticisms off my chest, I love this series to death already. It really seems like a great hybrid of Cross Game's drama/romance and Giant Killing's attention to detail.

Ugh, the wait between episodes is so unbearable... Blergh.... *dies*

That was exactly what I was thinking too when I first saw that episode. It made sense too, that Kakeru wasn't satisfied with what his brother was saying. So being rivals would have made it interesting. I guess making his brother die makes it so that Kakeru continue soccer with more passion and be that striker his brother always knew he'll be.

I'm a bit worried on how will they play Kakeru and Araki offside trick if the anime didn't show how Araki knows about it (the practice match with Seven in it).

Anyway, episode 5 was quite good. It feels a bit rushed but all the main point was presented in the whole episode. At the very least, even without reading the manga I would understand what's happening and how I'm very interested in knowing what will happen next. There's not much action/match in this episode, sadly I wonder how will it be in the next episode because it seems that it's the first episode of this anime that actually shows a full match (unlike the episode with Suguru as it's only a practice match).

New school, new kinda weird friends..
Their soccer club players sure have some talent, but Kakeru was shocked & surprised to see he got into an unusual club.
Well, at least they were all having fun.
Even though he got into the club by getting tricked, I think he'll be able to fulfill his potential here..

I'm a bit worried on how will they play Kakeru and Araki offside trick if the anime didn't show how Araki knows about it (the practice match with Seven in it).

I was wondering about that too. I suppose they're going to remove that altogether or make it so that it's Araki's idea. Either way, it sucks to be Seven... she's really getting the short end of the stick in this series.

Nice episode, building up and introducing new school, chars, Seven and Kakeru's new life, Araki's drama, diary, important match wtf that was a lot in a epi! No wonder it's rushed.

I hope next episode compensates for that! Because they pretty much make it looked like this epi would only be good alongside the next one! XD

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kazu-kun

If you want to know about the real-life Nadeshiko Japan just follow the link.

Ha, thanks! I was actually wondering recently that they weren't probably nicknamed "Blue Samurai" like the men, but I didn't know what they called them. xD

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kazu-kun

I was wondering about that too. I suppose they're going to remove that altogether or make it so that it's Araki's idea. Either way, it sucks to be Seven... she's really getting the short end of the stick in this series.

Well maybe it'll be flashbacked. They've rushed so much this epi to finally get into some soccer action since, well, there was already so much drama! XD

Well maybe it'll be flashbacked. They've rushed so much this epi to finally get into some soccer action since, well, there was already so much drama! XD

I don't know. They're covering almost one volume per episode. That's not rushing, that's madness. It's merely the backbone of the story what we're getting in the anime.

In any case, Seven definitely gets the short end of the stick here. For instance, Araki's monologue about the difference between FC's and SC's playing styles (episode 5) is actually spoken by Seven in the manga. So they're not only removing Seven's scenes, but they also giving her remaining lines to other characters.

All in all, it seems the director is adamant in shafting her into side-character territory. I wonder why though... it doesn't make much sense to me.

Unfortunately, they already nurfed Seven so much that it will be hard to believe she can play at that level. The Seven from the manga is a prodigy, both in her skills as well as her ability to read the flow of the game. Anime Seven is nothing like that so her role in Nadeshiko won't be easy to buy.

On another note, I watched episode 6:

Pros: somewhat good animation.

Cons: dumb Seven (well, not dumb, but not the genius she's in the manga), Kakeru being oblivious about his weakness (because they cut the scene when Seven explained it to him lol), Araki joining the game without knowing Seven off-side trick (because they cut that scene too lol) so how they hell is he going to pull off the fucking trick???

All in all 5/10. With every episode I'm one step closer to drop this thing. Here's hoping they writer will learn how to write at some point.

The music direction is still a little odd. They were playing a slightly techno sounding piece on the piano when the SC and the FC were stretching, and the music cues like Seven touching Kakeru's heart during that "no excuses" scene are still odd. It really doesn't help the series.

I was a little surprised that the announcer guy from the Broadcasting Club didn't think Kakeru was important enough to highlight. I mean, you'd think he'd know that Kakeru was the little brother of Suguru, who played for the national U-15 team after all. Liked seeing the graphic for all the players. Didn't know that soccer uses the same amount of players as (American) Football(11).

Kakeru had some nice moves and it was great that he took Iwaki-sensei's(and Suguru through flashback) advice to "disappear" so he could score that goal. And what a goal it was. It was also good to see that Seven tried to get Kakeru to forget about missing that mark and just work towards goals.

Kouta was hilarious too and him saying "I love you" in English was the funniest line of the episode. Good to see him playing alongside Kakeru.

Araki finally deciding to re-join the FC and enter into the game was not unexpected but it was nice to see too. I guess he used the two weeks to slim down so I suppose he was prepared to play in the game. I look forward to seeing how he and the rest of the FC plan to catch up with the score being SC 3-1 with 25 minutes left.

I think it's possible that Seven coming up with that trick play will be in a flashback and then Araki seeing it. I don't know if they'll do that after the trick play or before. I do wonder when Kakeru will find out about his weakness that Oda picked up on.

It gets a 7/10 for the animation and the way they handled Kakeru's lows and highs. I do wish they'd do better with the BGM they use and I wonder if we'll ever see an ED.